The Color White
by GaLeFanatic
Summary: A Valentine's Day Special: Gajeel has one heck of a day when he had originally just wanted to get some iron to snack on later. Levy gets sick because of him and he gets to pay the price... even literally, in a sense. Gajeel x Levy
1. February 13th

Gajeel grunted and a puff of steam came out of his mouth as he walked towards the guild. It was the day before Valentine's Day and everyone was already partying like there was no tomorrow. Gajeel, being the indifferent person that he was, left his house not too long ago to show up fashionably late to the guild. "What a stupid holiday. Give out some chocolates? Give each other flowers? That's laughable." Just as he said this, he arrived at the guild entrance and saw Gray and Loke snowball fighting outside.

"Oi, Loke, whatcha doing out of your zodiac gate?" the dragon slayer asked.

"Yo," he responded with a smile. "I summoned myself out here with my own magic since I wanted to spend a few days here with the guild. I'm still a member, after all." As soon as he finished, an ice ball met his face.

"Eat that!" Gray shouted.

"Hey, don't go throwing ice, you bastard! It feels like concrete," Loke yelled.

"It rained a bit yesterday so the snow's rough anyway, pussy!"

The guild doors creaked open slightly and the smell of wood burning introduced itself to Gajeel. He actually liked the dark and rich smell of the fireplace that they set up just for winter; it made him feel warm and cozy inside. Since he was too busy watching the fiasco in front of him, he didn't bother turning his head to see who stepped outside of the building. Gray and Loke were running around dodging each other's massive snowballs, so Gajeel decided to join in. He stooped down, grabbed a large handful of snow, and crunched it up into a dense ball. Gray was running to the right while eyeing Gajeel's bundle of snow. He skillfully waited to dodge it, and with success, he leapt out of the way, just in time for the snowball to hit someone else. The speed in which Gajeel threw the snowball was so great that even after missing its target, it kept flying a good thirty feet until it hit an innocent pedestrian who was careful to keep some distance between herself and the boys.

"Ah-… ow," the girl whimpered as she tightly hugged the large tome that was in her arms. The three males turned around to see one of their fellow mages with snow in her face. Gajeel went pale. "Crap," he muttered as he ran to her to see if she was alright. The smell of the fireplace had overwhelmed his senses so he couldn't smell her before. The other two guys followed behind hastily. They wanted to help, too, but Gajeel's large figure deliberately blocked them from getting closer to her.

"You okay?" Gray asked.

"I'm fine," the girl with blue hair said as she tried to wipe away the snow that struck her face.

"L-let me help you with that," Gajeel quickly said and before Levy could wipe off any more snow, his hands were on her face, frantically trying to wipe the rest of it off. All he could think about was how his snowball had hit _her _of all people, and without even thinking, he reached down to brush off the snow that seeped into her jacket.

"W-what are you doing!?" Levy panicked.

"Huh?" Gajeel snapped out of it and looked at her with wide eyes, realizing where his hands were. He comically pulled back, yelled at himself, and quietly apologized, while the other two guys snickered to each other until the taller man shot them a death glare and shut them up. He then looked back at Levy and brushed off the rest of the snow from her face, only to realize that the dense snowball had left quite a few scratches on the left side of her face.

"Damn it," he berated himself under his breath.

"Gajeel, I'm fine, really," Levy stated sheepishly while looking up at him with her large hazel eyes.

"Let's take you to Wendy."

"It's not that big of a deal. Besides, Wendy heals magic, not these types of things, remember?" Right, it was Chelia who could heal wounds.

"Whatever. Just put a patch on it then," he said, trying not to seem to care as much as he really did. He wanted to put one on for her but… nah. "Where ya headed?"

"Back home," she replied. Then there was a little bit of that awkward silence. Loke and Gray then dismissed themselves after apologizing to Levy for the mess.

"That looks heavy," Gajeel pointed to the book.

"Yeah, I guess…" Before she could say anything else, he took the book from her hands and examined it. _Metals: The Science, Facts, and Magic_.

"Um," Levy froze in place. "That's… I was just… going to help Erza come up with the best armor," Levy prudently came up with. Although her shaky voice proved that she wasn't the greatest liar, all that reading really made her clever when put on the spot, but now that she thought about it, helping Erza with her armor wouldn't be a bad idea. Gajeel lifted an eyebrow and just shrugged it off. Levy quietly sighed in relief until she had the distasteful opportunity of seeing the evil brute drop-kick her book across Magnolia. "What was that for!?" she shrieked and ran after her book.

"Gihi," he laughed and went into the guild. He kicked the book close to Fairy Hills so that she wouldn't have to carry that heavy brick. Meanwhile, Levy chased after it and went to where she thought it landed. Yes, it was near the female dorms, but she couldn't find it even after half an hour of searching in the cold snow.

"It's gotta be here somewhere…" she groaned. Finally, she spotted it. Where was it? In the water. She walked over to the small lake shore that was adjacent to the dorms while shivering and fished the tome out of the freezing, knee-deep water. "Damn… what a jerk."

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A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter!

I realized that the title could be controversial a little too late, so before any of you come to me saying white is a shade and not a color, please consider this:

When we see a color, for example, a blue pen, we see the only color that the pen reflects: _blue_. It absorbs every other color except blue, yet we call blue a color. A white pen, though, reflects all light, meaning white is indeed a color. Black, on the other hand, absorbs all colors (fun fact: this is why you don't wear a black shirt on hot days because it absorbs more heat than other colors). So yeah, white is a color. Thankies :)


	2. February 14th

It was Valentine's day morning and everyone was already at the guild. Gajeel, not wanting to feel Mira's wrath, also went early. People gave him chocolates and smiles, though he stubbornly refused the hugs from drunkards.

Wendy came in not too long after, looking upset. She sat down next to her older-brother figure and laid her head on the table that he was sitting at.

"Something gotcha down?" he asked.

"Levy-san caught a cold," she said dejectedly. "I casted a spell on her earlier, but even though I tried my best, she won't get better until tomorrow, just like when Lucy-san missed the Hanami!" Her eyes started to brim with tears. "It's all my fault… if only I were more skilled."

"Tch, it's her fault for getting sick," he said until he realized that the he might have been a catalyst.

"Levy-san came into the dorm cold and wet, but she still worked really hard on something last night when she should have been resting. Juvia-san even brought dinner up to her room because she was working so hard! 'Just one more minute,' she said. 'I'll be down soon,' she said. She didn't come down for another hour because she was too busy!"

"She was probably just working on something for Erza."

"Really?"

He nodded. "She had some stupid book about metals."

Wendy's eyes suddenly cleared up with realization. Deep down somewhere inside of her, the sweet girl slightly started to take off from Mira's love for meddling.

"I heard chicken-soup is good for colds," she said lifting her head from the table. "I know everyone says it, but it actually helps!"

"Okay…?"

"What are you two talking about?" Lily asked as he came over and perched himself on Wendy's lap.

"Levy-san is sick, so I was wondering if Gajeel-san could make her something to eat," the girl responded..

"Wait, what?" the large man said confusedly. "Why don't you?"

"I can't cook," she said with a suspiciously large smile.

Lily already caught onto what Wendy was trying to do. "Yeah, her cooking is terrible!" the cat added, when all of a sudden, the little girl's eyes started to water again.

"I'm… sorry… I didn't know you didn't want to eat my food the other day," she sniffled.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait, wait! I didn't mean it was _terrible_. I just meant, uh, a little salty at times!?" He tried to cheer her up a bit without blowing their cover, but it really didn't help to stop her waterworks.

"Maybe it's from all of those tears," Gajeel snorted until Lily shot him a look. "Fine, I'll make her some damn soup. Happy?"

"Aye sir!" Lily and Wendy imitated their blue feline friend, suddenly changing the mood.

Gajeel grumbled as he got up and headed for the guild's kitchen. He trudged his way to the refrigerator and opened it, only to find almost nothing in there. With a sigh, he checked his pockets to see how much money he had. After counting his jewels, he gave up his plans of buying some good-quality iron to snack on later and left the guild to go to the market place for some ingredients.

On his way there, he wondered if Levy even liked chicken soup. What if she didn't? … Whatever, he'd just force it down her throat.— He suddenly pictured himself forcing her mouth open, pouring the hot soup in, and making her gulp it down, causing some of it to spill from the corners of her mouth and trickle down to her neck, then to her-

Gajeel turned red and abruptly berated himself for even thinking of that. She was such a small and innocent girl, anyway; how the heck did he just picture that? He shook it off and just focused on the matter at hand. He arrived at the market place that was bustling with people and despite the snow, the merchants still managed to set up shop. He went over to a tent-stand that was filled with vegetables and inspected them carefully.

"Hello, young man. Are you making dinner tonight for a _special someone_?" the woman who ran the stand inquired. Gajeel humorously recoiled at the thought and slowly narrowed his eyes.

"Woman, I don't do that kind of… _stuff_." He really wanted to say _shit _instead, but even he had manners towards kind, middle-aged women.

"Just making dinner for one then?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Where's that sweet girl I sometimes see you with?" she cocked her head forward. Gajeel just dismissed most of what she said and answered her question.

"She's sick."

"Oh, dear. With a cold?"

He nodded while picking out some vegetables.

"Oh well that's a shame. It's Valentine's Day, too! She probably would've wanted to spend it with her boyfriend."

"What?" Gajeel felt as if lightning had stricken his back. "Spend it with her _what_?"

"Oh? She doesn't have a boyfriend?"

"Doesn't have a _what_?"

"I just thought a darling girl like her would have one," the woman said as she smiled with sweat now running down her face. Gajeel let out a deep breath of relief. He definitely would've known if she had one…

"What are you making? Perhaps I can help you look for the right ingredients." Actually, he had no idea how to make chicken soup.

"… Chicken soup," he said, observing the kindly woman. She started to pick out some good quality ingredients at her stand, put them in a large bag, and wrote down the recipe for him to follow.

"This one's on me," she said. "Go make her a good Valentine's day soup."

"Who said it was for her?"

"Honey, it's kind of obvious."

"Gah… whatever," he replied with some tint of red on his cheeks that really didn't match his nonchalant expression. The woman chuckled.

"I don't sell meat at my stand, so you'll have to find another one for the chicken."

He took one glance at the recipe and walked away. "Alright... Thank you," he said as he turned his head to her one last time. The woman smiled at his retreating back and, by some miracle, understood why a girl like Levy would ever fall for a boy like him.

Gajeel then went to a meat stand just as the woman said to and bought some pieces of chicken to throw into the soup. With his arms full of groceries, he returned to the guild and got funny looks. He simply sent them a glare and lumbered back into the kitchen. He dropped the bags down onto the counter and sighed like a kid who needed to start his homework.

_"First, fill a pot ¾ of the way with water and put the chicken in. Set the burner on high…"_

A while later, he was finally done with his masterpiece after being uncharacteristically careful to follow the directions exactly as written so as to not mess it up. He gave it a taste and knew right away that Levy would love it. He left the kitchen for a bit to look for a container to put the soup in.

"Hey, what's that smell?" Natsu wondered out loud as he popped his head into the kitchen.

"Smells nice," Gray said as he joined the fireball. They walked into the kitchen to see a pot full of mouth-watering soup.

"Wow, let me have a taste!" The salamander dipped a spoon into it. Gray followed and they both continued to "_taste"_ the fresh soup without realizing how much they were eating. Right then, Gajeel walked into the kitchen.

"Hey! Get your grimy hands away from my baby, ya filthy animals!" he yelled and shoved them aside. He looked into the pot and found nothing but little chunks of the has-been soup left in there. He was furious. His ears let out smoke and his face turned red as if he were about to explode.

"You… little… bastards…" he said like a ticking time-bomb. When he turned around, he saw the two rubbing the back of their heads and sweating. "Sorry, man…" they said. The next thing they saw was an iron dragon slayer ransacking them both, pulling and yanking on their limbs.

"THAT!" He whacked Gray in the face with the container.

"WAS!" He stuffed a wooden spoon into Natsu's mouth.

"FOR!" He threw the pot at their heads.

"LEVY!" He hit the culprits' already-swollen heads together, causing them to pass out with large bumps on their noggins and stars circling over them.

When he was done pummeling the two crooks, he exited the guild to get some fresh air and blow off some temper. With the cold temperature outside and his hot-head, he looked like a moving sauna with all of that steam coming out of his nose, ears, and mouth. His eyes formed the humorous obtuse triangles that expressed his anger as he stomped away at the snow under his feet. "Bastards…" he repeated. He walked a couple of minutes until he reached the Magnolia Southgate Park. He looked up and saw a lone figure coming towards him. He rubbed his eyes to get a better look at the person, trying to focus his vision away from all of the blindingly white snow around them.

"Levy…?"

She had noticed him before he noticed her and saw his nice little spectacle of mimicking a train's steam engine. "Well, that was interesting," she chuckled as she stopped in front of him. At that, he got even redder and his head looked like it would form a cloud. He stopped abruptly, though, and took a good look at the girl who was just a few feet away. Her cheeks and ears were a dark pink. She must have been walking in the cold weather for a while, since an ill person probably wouldn't move as quickly as he or she normally would when healthy. She was bundled up in several layers of clothing; a couple more than what she had on the day before, and had her red bag slung on her right shoulder. Gajeel could sense that she had a fever. Bottom line: she was still sick and she wasn't resting… and this ticked him off to no end.

"What the hell are you doing out here!?" he yelled. Levy was taken aback by his sudden outburst and flinched.

"If you're sick, stay in bed," he went on. "Go home, damn it!"

Levy knew she shouldn't be upset by this, but she couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by his yelling at her. She brought both of her mitten-covered hands to the strap of her shoulder bag and squeezed it as if to suppress any anxiety.

"I was going to..." she mumbled quietly and looked at him with unintentional puppy eyes.

_Why the hell is she looking at me like that?_ he wondered

Gajeel kept on grumbling unintelligible things as he took the liberty to pick the girl up by her waist and bring her up to eye level with him (while she protested) so he could see if the scratches on her face got any better.

_*Clunk*_

Something fell on the floor. Gajeel had picked her up so quickly and roughly that something from Levy's bag fell out and they both eyed it for a moment. The tall man then put her down, a little more gently this time, and crouched down to pick up the fallen item. It was a small, neatly wrapped, white box. The clunk must have come from inside of the box, since it landed in the cushiony snow.

"My bad," he muttered as he dusted off the snow with his hands and held the box in front of her to take. Levy looked him in the eyes and just shook her head. Without another word, she turned around and started to walk away.

"Oi, take it back," he raised his voice so she could hear him as he hesitantly took a step forward as if to go after her, but decided against it. She stopped in her tracks for a moment and looked up to her right. There was a bit of silence.

"It's pretty when it's white with snow, isn't it?" she asked, still looking at the object that got her attention.

Gajeel looked in that direction and felt a pang in his chest. There it was: the tree that he pinned her and her teammates to a long time ago. He hadn't realized earlier where exactly they were so this caught him off guard. He would normally just pass by the tree without another thought, but it was different when Levy gestured to it. _It's pretty to her? _he wondered.

She still looked at the snow-covered tree and gave it a little smile. "I like the color white," she continued. "It's clean... Even after the snow melts and the tree is no longer white, in a way, the tree is a lot cleaner than before. And when the snow melts and spring comes, the tree's leaves bloom with bright colors again." After one last glance at the tree, Levy again started heading home.

Baffled, Gajeel stood there and watched her figure slip away from his sight. His memories cruelly flooded back to him all at once. His heart felt like the tree in a sense, but unlike the tree, Levy was still pinned to his guilty, dirty heart. He's tried multiple times to unpin her and set her free, but as we all know, he couldn't. He felt like crap while standing there. He felt like garbage. He felt… unclean.

Then his gaze slowly fell onto the box in his hands.

It was white... as white as snow.

Curiously, he turned the box over. There was something written in her neat handwriting.

_To: Gajeel_

_Hope you like it, _

_Happy Valentine's Day!_

_From: Levy_

He could feel and hear his heart beats quicken as they rang through his ears. Gajeel slowly unwrapped the box and opened the top. Inside were small, iron hearts. He picked one out and examined it. The small thing was pure iron, something that he hasn't come across in quite a while. Every bit of iron he's ever eaten lately had some other crappy metal mixed in with it for industrial purposes, but this one… it was soft, clean iron that held magical properties. It held _Levy's_ magic.

Was this what the book was for? Making perfect iron isn't easy; not even for wizards. But she even managed to cut the surface smoothly and flawlessly. He popped the little thing into his mouth and felt the silky texture dance across his tongue, giving his taste buds a whole new sensation. He's tasted Levy's iron before and it was amazing, but this was on a whole different level. Pure iron is a lot softer than normal so it's a lot easier to chew, and because he was an iron dragon slayer, it slightly melted in his mouth like chocolate would.

As he stood there contentedly, he looked back at the small box in his hands. He pondered on what Levy said, and indeed, the color white was nice. Just as a tree is once again painted with bright colors after being covered in white snow, Gajeel was given another chance to paint his life with vibrant pigments after being given a fresh, clean page in his story.

Levy gave him a white box and pure iron parts... a clean slate and a clean heart.

Then as he felt his heavy guilt go limp, he said,

_"… Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Shrimp."_

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A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll try to wrap up my other story, too; it's been a busy year. I appreciate your reviews and favorites!


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